StarsDraft real-money contests to be removed from most US states

a Gaming is to pull real-money operations of its StarsDraft brand out of a majority of US states.

StarsDraft, Amaya’s daily fantasy sports (DFS) offering, launched in September after the provider acquired Victiv and rebranded the site.

Amaya said: “We have previously called for state regulation and licensing of DFS to ensure consumer protection and strict government oversight of operators. Prior to the launch of StarsDraft and based on a thorough review of the regulatory environment at the time, Amaya decided not to launch StarsDraft in jurisdictions where many of our competitors continue to operate today, including Michigan. We recently withdrew from Florida and Nevada.

“StarsDraft intends to focus operations in states with favourable existing daily fantasy sports guidance, including New Jersey, Massachusetts, Kansas and Maryland.”

The withdrawal follows last week’s ruling from the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) that DFS operators must now obtain a licence issued by the Nevada Gaming Commission to operate a sports pool in order to offer their services in the state, after the Gaming Division of the Office of the Nevada Attorney General performed a legal analysis as to whether DFS contrasts with Nevada law.

Despite not holding the required licence, DFS operator DraftKings has continued to offer real-money services in Nevada, according to Legal Sports Report (LSR).

LSR entered real-money DraftKings contests on Saturday, Sunday and Monday while located in Nevada, but was blocked by StarsDraft and operator FanDuel, after the ruling was announced by the NGCB on Thursday.

This occurred despite DraftKings sending out a statement to LSR on Friday outlining that it is “able to track location a variety of ways”.